The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2004, Qupperneq 41

Vol. 59 #2
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
83
Book Reviews
(fi) PLAYING THE
BLACK PIANO
BILL HOLM

Playing the Black Piano
By Bill Holm
Reviewed by Linda F. Sigurdson Collette
Milk Weed Editions, 128 pages
$22.50
Playing the Black Piano is Bill Holm’s
tenth book. His literary works range from
essays to poetry, his first love. This cos-
mopolitan man has lived in different places
in the world, but his heart is centered on his
Icelandic heritage. Many of these world
experiences form the substance of the
poems in this book, some which have been
previously published.
Besides being a teacher at Southwest
State University in Marshall, Minnesota,
Holm is a musician. The teacher and the
musician interact throughout the book as
does the man who commands. The first
indication is the cover, a swirl of music
with the “p” command, the musical nota-
tion of quiet, soft, gentle. The hypnotic
pull is to the dark center and there, a search
for meaning.
The book itself is divided into five
titled chapters with about a dozen poems in
each. The back cover states that the poems
“comment on the waywardness and
promise of the human species....and
....speak of this man’s full embrace of the
world and his passion for living well”.
In the book’s title poem, Holm
describes the result of his and his friend’s,
the late Dr. Mike Doman, playing on the
black piano. Dr. Doman could not “master
forgetfulness: the necessary gift”, yet felt
“spontaneous joy”. Holm is willed this
black piano and ends the poem with two of
his writing characteristics, the punch line
and the question, “I’m left to wonder: what
music will it make now?”
Holm’s words, “master forgetfulness”,
are necessary words when entering his
world. His views are original and many,
proclaimed with strength and humour. As
stated on the back cover, this book
“reflects Holm’s time in Iceland (his ances-
tral home), his ongoing love affair with
music, a friend’s death from AIDS, and his
bold reactions to the world around him”.
He writes of Oregon forests, Tucson
deserts, long distance telephone service,
MRI’s. Savour each poem.
Holm ends his book with the poem,
“Letting Go of What Cannot Be Held
Back”. He advises and commands his read-
ers with “Let go of the dead now. So quiet
down. Let them go. Practise your own
song. Now.” Holm has answered his own
question about what kind of music the
black piano will play. He has achieved res-
olution, but have his readers?
These modern poems are varied in
theme and style. Each one is an experience
of the five senses which W. H. Auden calls
the “precious five.” Auden says that “poet-